The Falling Sky

by Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha

Narrated by Yanomami shaman and leader Davi Kopenawa, this breathtaking documentary traces his Indigenous Amazonian community’s preparations for a time-worn funeral rite said to hold up the sky – a ceremony that also galvanizes them in the battle to defend their homeland from illegal gold mining. The Yanomami had lived in relative isolation until the 1970s when a highway built under Brazil’s dictatorship exposed them to the ravages of those they call the “merchandise people”: outsiders exploiting nature for financial gain. With a sensitivity to their own status as interlopers and taking inspiration from Kopenawa’s 2010 book of the same name, directors Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha let the Yanomami tell the story in their own words, highlighting the resilience of this ancient community and showcasing the natural wonder of the world they are fighting to protect. 

  • ERYK ROCHA

    Eryk Rocha, born in Brazil in 1978, graduated in Los Baños, Cuba. His first film "Rocha que Voa" (2002) was selected in Venice, Rotterdam, Locarno and other important festivals. In his extensive filmography, highlights Sunday Ball (2014), Burning Night (2019) and EDNA (2021) which received several awards and presence at renowned festivals in the world like CPH:DOX, Telluride, Sundance,MoMa New Directors, Visions du Réel. Cinema Novo (2016) received L’Oeil d’Or Best Documentary at Cannes in 2016.

    GABRIELA CARNEIRO DA CUNHA

    Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Brazilian filmmaker, theater director, researcher and environmental artistic activist. She is a partner at Aruac Films and creator of Margins project - about Rivers, Buiúnas and Fireflies through which developed the plays GUERRILLA (2015), ALTAMIRA 2042 (2019) and TAPAJÓS (2025), and the films EDNA (2021) and THE FALLING SKY (2024), which is her first film as director. Her work has been presented at Wiener Festwochen, Festival D'automne and Centre Georges Pompidou.

  • Year: 2024

    Country: Brazil, Italy

    Runtime: 108 min

    Color: Color

    Language: Yanomami, Portuguese

    Subtitles: English

    Sound: 5.1

  • CREW

    Directors and Script Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha With Davi Kopenawa, Justino Yanomami, Givaldo Yanomami, Raimundo Yanomami, Dinarte Yanomami, Guiomar Kopenawa, Roseane Yariana, Watorikɨ Community

    Producers Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Donatella Palermo

    Associate Producer Richard Copans

    Director of Photography and Camera Eryk Rocha, Bernard Machado

    Additional Camera Morzaniel Ɨramari, Roseane Yariana

    Editor Renato Vallone

    Sound Marcos Lopes

    Sound Design Guile Martins

    Sound Mixing Toco Cerqueira

    Original Soundtrack Comunidade de Watoriki

    Color Grading Brunno Schiavon, Giovanni Bivi

    Consultants Bruce Albert, Ana Maria Machado, Dário Vitório Kopenawa, Morzaniel Ɨramari, Marília Senlle

    Director Assistant Mariana de Melo

    Executive Producers Heloisa Jinzenji and Tárik Puggina

    Production Director Margarida Serrano

    Yanomami Translators Ana Maria Machado, Richard Duque, Corrado Dalmonego, Marcelo Moura, Morzaniel Ɨramari

    Local Production Lidia Montanha Castro, Naira Souza Mello

    Project Manager Lisa Gunn

    Designer Sofia Tomic, Camilla Baratucci

    Production Aruac Filmes

    Co-production Hutukara Associação Yanomami, Stemal Entertainment with Rai Cinema

    In Collaboration with Les Films d'Ici

  • Festival de Cannes 2024 - Quinzaine des Cinéastes - World Premiere

    27o International Guanajuato Film Festival GIFF 2024 (México)

    - Best InternationalDocumentary Feature

    DMZ DOCS (South Korea)

    - International Competition Special Jury Award

    Rio de Janeiro Int'l Film Festival (Brazil)

    - Best Sound Award and Best Direction for Documentary

    NYC Doc

    -Kaleidoscope Grand July prize

    Doc Lisboa (Portugal)

    28o Festival de Cine de Lima 2024 (Peru)

    FIDBA - Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Buenos Aires (Argentina)

    Festival Biarritz Amérique Latine (France)

    Melbourne International Film Festival 2024 (Australia)

    DokuFest, International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2024 (Kosovo)

    Festival La Manufacture d’Idées 2024 (France)

    AFI Latin American Film Festival (US)

    Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF)

    Pravo Ljudski Film Festival Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

    Refocus Film Festival (US)

    Brésil en Mouvements - Documentary Film Festival (France)

  • “One of the most powerful political films of our time.”

    —Variety

  • “keenly observational… such undaunted filmmaking, even when drawn out, renders The Falling Sky as urgent as its title demands.”

    —Screen

  • “A vivid portrait of an indigenous people’s urgent fight for survival… filled with beauty and fury… a potent film.”

    —The Hollywood Reporter